New laws and amendments related to the Business Register

Current legislative processes

Searching by natural person (Commercial Register Decree 2008)

Effective date: during 2023.

With the entry into force of the new Article 53 of the Commercial Register Decree 2008 (Handelsregisterbesluit), there is a legal basis for more organisations to search for natural persons within the Business Register. With this search function, civil-law notaries gain insight into the businesses or organisations in which a specific person holds or has held a position. This allows civil-law notaries to better fulfil their legal duties in legal transactions and their gatekeeper role.

The search for natural persons is done via a special, protected search entrance in the Business Register. This requires authorisation from the KVK. Requesting this authorisation will be possible via KVK.nl, shortly before Article 53 of the Commercial Register Decree 2008 takes effect.

Electronic filing of annual accounts (Commercial Register Act 2007)

Almost all organisations must file their annual accounts with the Business Register. Most of them are required to do so via Standard Business Reporting (SBR). Several organisations are not yet required to file via SBR. These are mainly large businesses and their medium-sized subsidiaries. This change removes that exception.

SBR is the national standard for the digital exchange of all business reports, such as annual accounts, property valuations and tax returns. Businesses in the micro and small business class have already been filing compulsorily via SBR since the 2016 financial year; the medium business class has done so since the 2017 financial year. The last business class, large legal persons, is expected to file annual accounts via SBR from financial year 2023.

An internet consultation (in Dutch) on the amendment of this Order in Council (Algemene Maatregel van Bestuur, AMvB) has been held on this change. The AMvB will then be sent to the Council of State for advice after approval by the Council of Ministers.

Completed legislative processes

The shielding of visiting address on request in case of (probable) threat (Commercial Register Decree 2008)

Effective date: 15 December 2022.

The regulation makes it possible to shield the visiting address of a company or legal person in the Business Register. This is the case if there is a threat and, because of this, it is not desirable for the address to be visible to everyone.

The amendment to the Commercial Register Decree 2008 regulates that a visiting address of a company or legal person listed in the Business Register can be shielded if there is a threat to one or more persons. This applies even if the address in question is not residential. The applicant must substantiate that shielding is necessary. This can be done, for example, by showing that a threat has been reported.

It is also possible for people whose profession exposes them to probable threats, such as journalists, to have their visiting address shielded in the Business Register as a preventive measure. To allow shielding in this situation, the address must also be a residential address and the company concerned must not be a capital company (BV or NV) due to EU legislation. For preventive shielding, professional organisations have to make an agreement with the Netherlands Chamber of Commerce KVK on the criteria for profession-related shielding. This way, professional organisations fulfil a role in assessing requests.

Shielding of residential address (Commercial Register Decree 2008)

Effective date: 1 January 2022.

The residential addresses of owners of sole proprietorships, partners of partnerships and directors of homeowners’ associations will no longer be publicly available from 1 January 2022. This is due to the amendment to the Commercial Register Decree 2008.

This amendment better protects the privacy of entrepreneurs. And it helps prevent entrepreneurs from being frequently approached by businesses for unsolicited direct marketing activities, without these businesses having obtained permission, or having any other legally valid reason to do so.

Only administrative bodies, lawyers, bailiffs, civil-law notaries and the organisations listed in Section 28(3) of the Commercial Register Act 2007 (Handelsregisterwet 2007) can view the residential address, provided they have received authorisation to do so from the KVK.